The Columbia River Plateau, sometimes called the Columbia River Basin, is a broad plateau in Washington State where the Columbia River rolls its way between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountain foothills. Extensive infrastructure projects along the river have transformed this semi-arid sagebrush steppe into a literal powerhouse of energy and agriculture.
Cities
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This article covers the Washington counties of Adams, Benton, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, Klickitat, Lincoln, Walla Walla, and Yakima. Broader definitions of the Columbia Plateau sometimes include the Palouse and the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge.
Coulee Country
[edit]These channeled scablands are shaped from prehistoric flooding, interspersed with irrigated farming communities. This area includes Adams, Douglas, Grant and Lincoln Counties.
- 1 Bridgeport — site of the Chief Joseph Dam
- 2 Davenport — county seat of Lincoln County
- 3 East Wenatchee — across the Columbia from Wenatchee
- 4 Ephrata — county seat of Grant County
- 5 Coulee City — on the south end of Banks Lake, near Dry Falls
- 6 Grand Coulee (including Electric City and Coulee Dam) — home of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest hydroelectric power producer in the country
- 7 Moses Lake — largest city in this subregion
- 8 Othello — a potato hub
- 9 Quincy
- 10 Ritzville — county seat of Adams County
- 11 Soap Lake — a small town known for its healing mineral waters
- 12 Waterville — county seat of Douglas County
Tri-Cities
[edit]The Tri-Cities are at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia rivers, in Franklin County and Benton County:
- 13 Kennewick — the largest of the Tri-Cities
- 14 Pasco — county seat of Franklin County
- 15 Richland (including West Richland) — near the Hanford Site and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Other communities nearby:
Klickitat County
[edit]- 18 Goldendale — county seat of Klickitat County
Walla Walla County
[edit]- 19 Walla Walla (including College Place) — the heart of Washington wine country, county seat of Walla Walla County
- 20 Burbank
- 21 Waitsburg
Yakima Valley
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The farmland of the Yakima Valley consists of grapes, wheat, apples, and many other crops. It includes Yakima County and westernmost Benton County.
- 22 Yakima (including Union Gap and Selah) — county seat of Yakima County
- 23 Grandview
- 24 Granger — a town decorated with dinosaurs
- 25 Prosser — county seat of Benton County
- 26 Sunnyside
- 27 Toppenish — the city of murals
- 28 Wapato
- 29 Zillah — its gas station is a giant teapot
Other destinations
[edit]- 1 Frenchman Coulee — a gorge lined with climbable basalt columns
- 2 Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park — during the last ice age, Dry Falls occasionally carried more water by volume than all the rivers of the world combined
Understand
[edit]Geology
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Between 6-17 million years ago, flood after flood of volcanic basalt engulfed about 63,000 sq mi (160,000 km2) of the Pacific Northwest, ultimately accumulating to a thickness of more than 6,000 ft (1,800 m), leading to a large lava plateau. Evidence links the concentrated heat source underneath the plateau to the hot spot that is underneath Yellowstone.
Much more recently, at the end of the last ice age, the channeled scabland coulees across the region were carved out by the cataclysmic Missoula floods, where massive glacial lakes to the east periodically released more water down the Columbia Gorge than flows out of all of today's rivers combined.
History
[edit]The skeletal remains of Kennewick Man, one of the oldest and most complete human remains found in North America, were discovered here and are dated to between 8,400 and 8,700 years ago. The peoples of the basin had a subsistence-based culture based on hunting, food-gathering and some forms of agriculture, as well as a dependency on salmon from the Columbia and its tributaries.
In 1836, a group of missionaries, including Marcus Whitman, established several missions near present-day Walla Walla, in the territory of both the Cayuse and the Nez Perce Indian tribes. Whitman's settlement would help establish the Oregon Trail. When Indian patients died in striking numbers to "European" diseases, while at the same time many white patients recovered, they held "medicine man" Marcus Whitman personally responsible, and executed Whitman and twelve other white settlers in 1847, triggering the Cayuse War. Around this time, the Washington-Canadian border was also worked out, and the region was fully opened to American settlers.
During the Great Depression, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia River to increase the production of electricity, culminating with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam in 1941, the largest concrete structure in the United States and the largest dam in the world at its construction. Making use of the region's water and energy resources, the Hanford Site played a major role in the construction of atomic bombs during World War II.
Climate
[edit]The plateau has a dry climate, in distinct contrast to western Washington. Despite the limited rainfall, agriculture is an extremely important business, as the soil is highly productive and irrigation, aided by dams along the Columbia River, is fairly widespread.
Talk
[edit]The primary language is English. With a high number of Hispanic migrants living in Yakima, Pasco, and the surrounding rural areas, Spanish comes as a second language for the region.
Get in
[edit]By plane
[edit]There are two small airports in this region with limited commercial air service: Yakima Airport (YKM IATA) and Pasco Airport (PSC IATA).
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA IATA) and Portland International Airport (PDX IATA) have international flights and domestic flights with most major airlines. Both are about 2-3 hours away by car.
By car
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Interstate 90 (I-90) leads into the heart of this region.
Interstate 82 (I-82) is the main east-west highway through the south part of this region, following the Yakima River. I-82 connects Ellensburg at I-90 to I-84 south of Hermiston in Oregon.
US Highway 12 (US-12) goes across from Chehalis (from Exit 71 of I-5) to I-82 in Yakima. US-12 goes concurrent on I-82 from Yakima to Tri-Cities and then continues east of Tri-Cities to Walla Walla.
US Highway 97 (US-97) is the main north-south highway along the western edge of the Columbia River Plateau. It goes north south from The Dalles to Yakima, Ellensburg and Wentatchee.
US Highway 395 (US-395) is the north-south highway through the eastern side of this region. It goes from I-84 south of Hermiston along I-82 to Tri-Cities. From Tri-Cities it goes northeasterly towards I-90 in Ritzville through Othello. Continuing north it goes east along I-90 to Spokane and going south from Hermiston it goes along I-84 towards Pendleton.
By train
[edit]Amtrak's Empire Builder stops in Pasco (on the Portland branch) and Ephrata (on the Seattle branch).
Get around
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Interstate 182 (I-182) crosses the Columbia River in the Tri-Cities.
Residents of the Tri-Cities commonly use State Route 240 (WA-240), which is adjacent to the Columbia River, to travel between Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco quickly.
See
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Monuments and architecture
[edit]- Grand Coulee Dam, the largest producer of hydroelectricity in the country. Several other dams along the Columbia also feature visitor facilities.
- Teapot Dome Gas Station in Zillah, short and stout, with a handle and a spout.
Historic sites
[edit]- Tour the massive remediation projects and the historic reactor on the Hanford Site near Richland, formerly home to one of the United States' largest nuclear weapons production facilities.
- Whitman Mission National Historic Site near Walla Walla, where the 1847 Whitman "Massacre" horrified Americans and impacted the lives of the people of the Columbia Plateau for decades afterward.
Landscapes and natural scenery
[edit]- There are numerous coulees with sheer rock faces. Dry Falls and Steamboat Rock are the most dramatic examples.
- Exposed hexagonal basalt columns can be easily seen at Frenchman Coulee, along WA-821 between Ellensburg and Yakima, and along US-12 west of Naches.
Do
[edit]- Boating in the many reservoirs along the Columbia River. Lake Roosevelt offers over 630 mi (1,010 km) of shoreline.
- Hiking up Steamboat Rock and Northrup Canyon
- Rock climbing the basalt columns at Frenchman Coulee or Tieton.
- Windsurfing on the Columbia River, at Doug's Beach State Park.
- Explore the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, where the Columbia River cuts through the Cascade Mountains along WA-14.
- The Gorge Amphitheatre, 754 Silica Road N.W. (go 7mi/11km north along Silica Rd, from Exit #143 along I-90.), ☏ +1 509 682-6262. M-F 9AM-3PM (hours can vary if there's a concert scheduled). A 20,000-seat outdoor concert venue, just off I-90, in the charmingly-named tiny town of "George, Washington". Beautiful sunsets. Price varies depending on who's playing.
Eat
[edit]Drink
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Yakima Valley and Walla Walla Valley are two of the most esteemed wine regions in the nation, supporting hundreds of wineries. The Tri-Cities are conveniently between both regions.
If you drink beer, then you've had one of the local specialties; the Yakima Valley produces roughly 3/4 of all hops grown in the United States.
Stay safe
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Rattlesnakes are commonly found outside of developed areas. Don't touch them! It is best to freeze and back away as slowly as possible. Their venom is rarely fatal if treated promptly.
During the summer months, the temperature often exceeds 100 °F (38 °C). If you are to be outside for long periods of time, drink plenty of water and limit the intake of alcohol and caffeine to prevent dehydration and heat stroke.
Go next
[edit]- Eastern Oregon, to the south
- Southwest Washington, to the west
- North Cascades, to the north
- Palouse, to the east